Jeff Ragan > Recent Status Updates

"L'annee de la mort du roi Ozias, je vis le Seigneur siegeant sur un trone tres eleve. Les pans de son vetement remplissaient le Temple. Des seraphins se tenaient au-dessus de lui; chacun d'eaux avait six ailes: deux ailes pour se couvrir le visage, dex autres pour se voiler le corps, et les deux dernieres pour voler. S'adressant l'un a l'autre...Saint, saint, saint est le Seigneur des armees celestes." - Esaie 6:1-3

"In war one should never wait to get the best possible plan. On account of the scarcity of reliable information, the best plan is unobtainable. The most important thing is to have one plan and to adhere strictly to it, so far as possible...There is some truth in the old rule that, in war the simplest plan is the best" (18).

"The attribute most noble of the hand is readiness in giving; of the head, bending before a teacher; of the mouth, veracious speaking; of a victor's arms, undaunted valour; of the inner heart, pureness the most unsullied; of the ears, delight in hearing and receiving truth - these are adornments of high-minded men better than all the majesty of Empire" (186).

"Achaean society is a patriarchal despotism tempered with the beauty anger of woman, & the fierce tenderness of parental love...Such paternal omnipotence does not necessarily imply a brutal society, but only one in which the organization of the state has not yet gone far enough to preserve social order; & in which the family, to create such order, needs the powers that will later be appropriated by the state" (50).

"Paul's point in all this is to warn 'the Lord's people,' not only the man who has wronged his brother but the whole community, that if they persist in the same evils as 'the wrongdoers,' they are in the dame danger of not inheriting the kingdom...By persisting in the same behavior as those already destined for judgment they are placing themselves in the very real danger of that same judgment" (267).

"...the ultracompetitive people who are willing to advocate for the companies/solutions they represent (and for themselves), & who push through resistance when prospecting, bust objections, dislodge incumbents, secure next steps...ask for & close deals...these people don't necessarily look, smell, or feel like the collaborator candidates your HR people fantasize about in their flowery job descriptions" (77).

"When a church practices baptism & the Lord's Supper, it obeys Christ's teaching & example. In so doing, it portrays Christ's death & resurrection, the testimony of every believer's own spiritual rebirth, as well as the church's collective hope for the final resurrection...The new birth may be ignored, but baptism portrays it. Christ's atonement may be denied in the sermon, but the Lord's Supper proclaims it" (616).

"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?...We want them broken...We're after power & we mean it...There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws" (404).

"Sur mon lit, au long de la nuit, j'ai cherche, j'ai cherche celui que mon coeur aime. Je l'ai cherche, mais ne l'ai pas trouve. Je me suis dit alors: IIl faut que je me leve, je ferai le tour de la ville par les rues et les places, je chercherai partout celui que mon coeur aime. Je l'ai cherche, mais je ne l'ai pas trouve." - Cantque des Cantiques 3:1-2

"The fertility of varieties, that is of the forms known or believed to be descended from common parents, when crossed, and likewise the fertility of their mongrel offspring, is, with reference to my theory, of equal importance with the sterility of species; for it seems to make a broad and clear distinction between varieties and species" (136).

"We cannot know a thing without knowing its merits, its qualities. All knowledge or science is based on a form of praise" (174).

"A light infantry brigade...was given the mission to defend the critical sector that blocked the major axis of the aggressor's line of attack. The light infantry was ordered to dig in & be prepared to fight an uneven battle against an enemy with superior numbers. The stark truth of this situation is now crystal clear to the riflemen of Second Lieutenant Davis's 1st Platoon" (7).

"The big idea is that citizens armed with individual weapons can provide a powerful opposition to even a conventional military that is in the service of an oppressive government. The Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing when they enshrined the Second Amendment within the Bill of Rights. Let's hope we never have to put their wisdom to the test" (434).

"Paul is trying to help the Corinthians see their true condition over against their perceived one. A trial between two brothers before pagan courts is no 'innocent' mater; it reveals how lacking in truly Christian wisdom they are, and therefore how poorly they understand their true place in Christ, not to mention that they themselves are disciples of one who was condemned by the authorities..." (161).

"The legends of the Heroic Age suggest both the origins and the destinies of the Achaeans. We must not ignore these stories; for though a sanguinary fancy enlivens them, they may contain more history than we suppose; and they are so bound up with Greek poetry, drama, and art that we should be at a loss to understand these without them" (38)

"God has inspired multiple images, each of which offers a different perspective and none of which should so dominate our conceptions of the church that the depth and texture of understanding is lost. Though all are inspired, they are not interchangeable, nor are they all as comprehensive in their presentation of the nature and mission of the church" (608).

"That woman...keep[s] evading the thoughts which they know to be good. You keep pushing out of your mind the thoughts which you believe to be evil. The do it, because they want to avoid effort. You do it, because you won't permit yourself to consider anything that would spare you. They indulge their emotions at any cost. You sacrifice your emotions as the first cost of any problem" (387).

"Dieu fait toute chose belle en son temps. Il a implante au trefonds de l'etre humain le sens de l'eternite. Et pourtant, l'homme est incapable de saisir l'oeuvre que Dieu accomplit du commencement a la fin. Aussi ai-je conclu qu'il n'y a rien d'autre qui soit bon pour lui que jouir du bonheur et se donner de bon temps durant sa vie." - L'Ecclesiaste 3:11-12

"More important, however, is for them to have the right outlook. Activity can be instilled & competence can be acquired, but the right attitude must be ingrained - the cheerful acceptance & endurance of small privations & wearisome duties & the unquestioned belief that the success of the voyage & the care of the ship is what matters most. 'This ship, the ship we serve, is the moral symbol of our life'" (824).

"He who lives pure in thought, free from malice, contented, leading a holy life, feeling tenderness for all creatures, speaking wisely and kindly, humble and sincere, has Vasudeva ever present in his heart. As the young Sala-tree, by its beauty, declares the excellence of the juices which it has imbibed from the earth, so, when the eternal has taken up his abode in the bosom of any one, that man is lovely..." (171).

"Dale showed him the maps, old AAA paper jobs with yellow Post-Its representing insurgent units & red ones representing People's Republic Army...Several townsfolk were talking into radios & taking notes, then stepping forward to tell Dale's battle captain...the information. Then she would have her ops sergeant, a high school friend of Carl Hyatt's, move the Post-Its. No one touched the maps but the ops sergeant.

"The death of Christ has freed us from sin; thus we are to live as those who have been set free" (240).

"Civilization is always older than we think; and under whatever sod we tread are the bones of men and women who also worked and loved, wrote songs and made beautiful things, but whose names and very being have been lost in the careless flow of time" (27).

"The 'now-not yet' of sanctification means that believers live within the realms of two realities...the flesh and the Spirit...Sanctification is evidenced not by self-righteousness but by a hunger for righteousness and spiritual formation that are essential components of every believer's life. In Christ, we are now more than conquerors; yet while we are in the world, we still have intense spiritual conflict" (598).

"Regardless of circumstances, you cannot win the long-term sales management game playing the hero of your team. It is neither scalable nor sustainable. At best, it's a very short-term fix. It will kill your culture, your career, and your quality of life" (73).

"Tache de bien connaitre l'etat de chacune de tes brebis, sois attentif a tes troupeaux, car la richesse n'est pas eternelle, et une couronne ne subsiste pas a toujours. Quand tu auras recolte le foin, pendant que pousse le regain, et que l'herbe des montagnes est recueillie, des moutons te fourniront de quoi te vetir et des boucs serviront a te payer un champ..." - Proverbes 27:23-26

"Hence we may conclude that slight modifications of structure or of instinct, correlated with the sterile condition of certain members of the community, have proved advantageous: consequently the fertile males and females have flourished, and transmitted to their fertile offspring a tendency to produce sterile members with the same modification" (133).

"In scatterings end collections all;
High towering piles at length must fall;
In parting every meeting ends;
To death all life of creatures tends" (160).

"'Tell me the truth. We saw what you people do to civilians.' The PSF officer looked panicked. 'I didn't do any of it. I haven't hurt anyone.' 'So what's your mission?' 'We're supposed to follow the soldiers & deal with terrorists,' the PSF prisoner said, & then realized that perhaps his choice of words was suboptimal. 'With the locals.' 'Deal with?' 'Look, they shot some, but not me!...The PBI guy made us'" (398).

"In contrast to the gathered community of believers who experience the Spirit and power of the Lord Jesus in edifying gifts and loving concern for one another, this man is to be put back out into the world, where Satan and his 'principalities and powers' still hold sway over people's lives to destroy them. By this action the church was to clean out the old leaven..." (229).